HUGHESVILLE, Md.—Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative's (SMECO's) application to reduce its energy charges by more than 12 percent for residential customers was approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) on April 29, 2015, and will go into effect with May 2015 bills. The filing was submitted February 27, 2015.
Austin J. Slater, Jr., SMECO president and CEO, explained, "Our energy rates for May will be the lowest they have been in almost 10 years. This decrease in energy rates will deliver substantial savings to customer-members, and not only for residential customers, but for commercial accounts, schools, government buildings, and even sports facilities. The average residential customer with monthly usage of 1,300 kilowatt-hours (kWh) will receive a May bill that is $25 less than the April bill."
SMECO's residential energy charges for summer will decrease by 12.5 percent, from 8.61 cents per kWh to 7.53 cents per kWh. Summer energy charges appear on bills rendered May through September. Residential winter energy charges will be reduced from 9.25 cents per kWh to 8.13 cents per kWh.
Slater added, "This rate reduction is significant, and we are glad to reduce energy rates when our wholesale energy costs are reduced. Because SMECO is a cooperative, we do not mark up energy costs to earn net margins. When we pass savings on to customers, we demonstrate the value of the cooperative business model which differentiates us from other energy companies."
SMECO's Standard Offer Service (SOS) rate is made up of the energy charge and the Power Cost Adjustment (PCA). On SMECO's monthly electric bills, lower power supply costs have been reflected in the PCA, which has been a credit every month since September 2014. Pending PSC approval, the PCA for May will be a credit of 0.3405 cents per kWh, which will, in effect, reduce the SOS rate from 7.53 cents per kWh to 7.19 cents per kWh, which is the combination of the new reduced energy charge and the PCA, which changes monthly.
Source: SMECO